The Age of Innocence (1993)
Genre: Romance / Drama
Duration: 139 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer
IMDb score:
7,2 (76.036)
Releasedate: 10 September 1993
The Age of Innocence plot
"In a world of tradition. In an age of innocence. They dared to break the rules."
New York 1870. Newland Archer is engaged to May Welland, a by-the-book engagement. But when he meets May's niece the Countess Ellen Olenska, he falls in love with her. She stands out for her free-spirited attitude, she is divorced and therefore she falls outside the social order of the higher circles at that time.
Actors and actresses
Newland Archer
Ellen Olenska
May Welland
Louisa van der Luyden
Mrs. Welland
Rivière
Lawrence "Larry" Lefferts
Sillerton Jackson
Regina Beaufort
Julius Beaufort
Reviews & comments
De filosoof
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- 2615 messages
- 1792 votes
Everything in the film exudes quality and class, just like the beau monde that is portrayed: the film is visually beautiful, the pronounced sentences are often profound and poetic and the story matters, but at the same time the film is boring because you are overwhelmed by an endless procession of people and details that don't matter, although it fits with the theme of the film that we are swallowed by unimportant conventions, so that we lose what does matter. The film is set in the Victorian 19th century, which emphasizes the theme of the film: although we are free by law, we are all too often constricted by the conventions of our environment. We play games with others and hide our emotions. And above all, how painful it is to have to give up the love of your life to please others. All in all, a very good film, but it didn't really touch me. But as with most of the best things, this film may well be an acquired taste that doesn't reveal its secrets right away so that the film will grow as you get older and watch it more than once…
Translated from Dutch · View original
Shadowed
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- 12083 messages
- 7064 votes
Pfft.
The sufficient will indeed have come through Scorsese, because for him this is a very boring, uninteresting and above all long film. Not that I was already eager to watch a costume drama from his side, but giving a chance is of course still possible.
That opportunity turned out to be in vain. I really couldn't get through it, I seriously had to watch the film in stages which normally doesn't happen very often. But it was all so uninteresting, slow and theatrical that it was just a fatigue to get through, despite really serious efforts.
I thought the roles were pretty bad, both the characters and the acting. Something that also shocked me, because Day-Lewis is really not a mediocre actor. Apparently he couldn't handle the pressure in this role, because this was very substandard for him. Pfeiffer and Ryder were also seriously below par. Ryder seems mostly lost and Pfeiffer is a miscast.
The slow pace of the film and very uninteresting and distant romance make it a difficult sit. I also thought the story was very weak, but Scorsese apparently liked it very much. It goes on for 139 minutes. 2 hours and 19 minutes for this kind of nonsense that doesn't want to touch and/or entertain.
The directing is still successful on some points, to be honest. Scorsese sometimes just manages to give his scenes a better visual push with pretty good camera work and fun playing with colors and cinematography. The content is extremely in the way of that by completely wiping everything that was visually interesting.
I tried, but it was really sleep-inducing to get through this. I just couldn't do it several times, and I really tried. Maybe I should just stay away from the costume dramas, because this wasn't the first time a movie of this kind had me put to sleep.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Ebenezer Scrooge
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- 2150 messages
- 3092 votes
Beautiful opening titles with the budding flowers.
Moments later, a dazzlingly beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer takes a seat in her guest house in a royal blue taffeta silk evening dress. Then a lot of red.
There is a lot of splendor in the interiors, the many paintings are truly magnificent. As Day-Lewis traverses the lavishly decorated rooms of the Beauforts' home with the camera behind him, it's like walking through a museum. Great if you zoom in on the nude painting Le Printemps by Bouguereau from 1886. A replica, by the way. Later there is another scene between Pfeiffer and Day-Lewis and in the background is the painting Carress of the Sphinx by the Belgian painter Fernand Khnopff, from 1896. It is very similar to the work of Franz von Stuck.
In between are some beautiful shots of nineteenth-century New York. From an undeveloped part of the city where a classy neighborhood will probably be built, with a lot of mud and here and there a cupboard of a house. A funny shot of a long stream of pedestrians, neatly dressed men, all holding their bowler hats in the stiff wind.
The ending is so moving, arguably the best ending ever in a movie.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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